Apparently, clothes and accessories maketh the woman

By Padmalatha Ravi, on Saturday, July 30, 2011 - 11:37

When Pakistan’s new foreign minister Hina Rabbani Kher visited, the media went gaga over her beauty and fashion sense. This isn’t the first time that the media has put more focus on a woman’s dress sense and character than her capabilities. Padmalatha Ravi writes about this trend..

So what was the highlight of most awaited meeting of Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers that concluded on Thursday? Pearls and Birkin bags of course.

Even before Hina Rabbani Khar set foot in India, the media went berserk over how young she is and of course how beautiful she is. And as soon as she landed, all discussions turned towards how she ‘fashionably yet conservatively’ accessorised herself.

Did anyone notice what Indian foreign minister S M Krishna wore for the meeting? Hmm, that’s what I thought. The Pakistani minister did notice the media’s fascination for her accessories and was quite livid at that.

This article was initially meant to be about how women are never taken seriously, even when they hold a high position such as foreign minister of a democracy. But this comment here that it was fitting to treat her as nothing beyond a fashion icon, points to a larger issue. Some might argue that this is extrapolation, exaggeration even. But hear me out.

So you don’t agree with her politics. What is the solution? Discredit her of course. This discrediting is a common tactic in politics and it cuts across the gender divide. But the subjects chosen to discredit shows the gender bias.

In the case of Hina Rabbani Khar, no one focused on whether she was capable of holding these very crucial talks. Apart from the reporting on her meeting the Kashmiri separatists, no one even discussed her politics. But there were plenty of columns dedicated to her ‘fashion sense’. See this. Even the Wall Street Journal jumped on the fashion band wagon.

Whether this whole media frenzy over her expensive accessories is a deliberate tactical move to discredit her or not is still in the realm of theories. But these reports have ensured that the lady is not taken seriously. She is just a pretty face with expensive bags, who happens to be the foreign minister of Pakistan.

In 2002, when I was covering the by-elections in Tuticorin, I attended the DMK rally. Every politician worth his salt got on to the dais and said unsavoury things about the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s personal life. All the remarks were below the belt. And the largely male crowd clapped and whistled at every remark, gaily. I didn’t hear anyone going below the belt while talking about the men from DMK at the AIADMK rally. There the comments, though unsavoury, were reserved for the incapabilities in public life.

Same goes with the potshots take at Karnataka’s only woman minister Shobha Karandlaje for her ‘associations’. While Chief Minister Yeddyurappa’s exit post his indictment in the mining scam is going to cause many an upheaval, this report chose to wonder about Shobha’s future. Why?